Atreyu and Tartus are walking through the woods. "If you're the chosen one then why are we lost?" Tartus remarks. "Didn't the childlike empress grant you some sort of powers or something? Like that?" He says pointing at the Auryn around Atreyu's neck. "I mean there's got to be some sort of powers attached to it." He suggests. "You think it makes you invincible?" He asks. "I don't know." Atreyu replies just before Tartus punches him harshly. "Guess not." Tartus says with his hands on his hips.
Atreyu, who stumbled back held his right eye with one hand for a minute before standing up straight. "I really wish you wouldn't have done that because now I'm gunna have to pound you-" Atreyu starts before Tartus cuts him off. "Wait a minute! Wishes! I bet it grants you wishes!" He expresses, hoping to get out of being hit back. "What are you waiting for? Wish for something!" Tartus gestures.
Atreyu sighs and lowers his fists. "Ok uh, I wish…I knew my way back to the village." He says closing his eyes, Tartus doing the same. After a few moments they open their eyes only to find that nothing special happened. "So much for wishes." Atreyu says disappointingly.
"Oh no," Tartus says as he hears more dark knights coming. Atreyu quickly notices this and starts to guide Artax away as the two hide behind a tree. "They're heading straight to the village." Atreyu states before grabbing ahold of Artax's reigns once again. "Come on," he says quietly as the three start to follow the knights.
•••
Meanwhile, Bastian, who arrived to school late due to obviously reading the book, is running through the halls. He quietly ducks down by the lockers as he gets closer to the classroom door. Mr. Blank is calling last names for attendance, he notices Bastian isn't in there so he doesn't call his last name. Once all the students say 'here,' he decides to ask about him. "Has anyone seen Mr. Bux? Or should I say…the late Mr. Bux?" He asks as some of the students laugh.
Bastian watches with intent through the door's window, but soon enough Conner notices. "Mr. Blank he's right there!" He says pointing to him. Bastian quickly hurries to his locker, unlocking it quickly to put his coat away before slinging his bag over his shoulder, walking towards the door again. He looks in the window again, but this time the man wasn't at his desk. Suddenly, out of no where, Mr. Blank springs up from behind the door and bores his eyes into him, which flash hollow.
A frightened Bastian runs as fast as he can back down the hall. After a couple seconds of Bastian running, he calls out his name as he starts to walk through the halls, looking for him. "Mr. Bux!!" He calls out as he starts speed walk more through the halls. Bastian eventually comes across a janitor closet, which was unlocked. Bastian hurries inside and heads to the back, even more terrified of him than he was before.
"Actions have consequences Mr. Bux, I hope you know what you're doing." Mr. Blank called out as he continued to pace himself down the hallway. He eventually turned back around until he heard a sound coming from the same closet. Releasing that's where he is, Blank glares through the door and gets closer. "Come out come out wherever you are~" He says in a singsongy voice, ominously sliding his hand up and down on the glass window.
Bastian then looks behind him and sees a later. He was confused to where it led but realizing he has no choice, he quickly starts to climb up. Not even a second after, Blank quickly turns the knob and opens the door swiftly. He walks slowly around the closet and observes it. He starts to use his canine insects and tries to sniff him out, before realizing he's probably not there after all.
Bastian reaches his hand down from the upper hatch he climbed up and grabs his bag. Once he leaves, Bastian puts the steal blocker back down on the hatch whole and stands up. Once he observes where he is, he realizes it's the school attic. "Wow…this is so cool." He says to himself as he continues to walk through the cluttered but spacious area.
He then hears the bell ring from downstairs as he looks down at his watch. "First period…math…" He says to himself. "I can catch up with no problem." He says as he sits down against a wooden stand, the floor creaking underneath him. He unzips his bag and pulls out the book, and starts to read where he left off at the red book mark.
"While Atreyu and Tartus tried to find their way back home, the peace-loving woodlanders were unaware that Xayide and her dark knights were thundering toward their village," He reads. Yonie, Olano, and a couple other woodland children who carried stuff in their hands. Stopped to a halt as they heard the marching knights come along. "Quick, everyone hide!" Yonie expresses as hurry away, even dropping their voodoo doll one was holding.
They watch the knights pass while in a hole, realizing their heading to the village. The Woodlanders were minding their business until they saw the dark knights set forth through the entrance. They all gathered and clamored among themselves, while Obseki reassured everyone not to panic, which was short lived once one of the guards got closer and pointed a sword towards his stomach, song with the rest of the guards who pointed their swords in the groups direction.
Soon enough, Xayide marched through. "Greetings, Woodlanders. Allow me to introduce myself-" She starts before the lead wise woman cut her off. "We know who you are Xayide." She interrupts bluntly. "Well then, you must know why I'm here." Xayide states, amused now. "To turn us into mindless drones, working in your mills and factories?" The woman asserts. "You mean, you bring order and purpose, to your chaotic and confused lives?" She asks sarcastically.
"Today I am merely looking for a boy." She says. "We'd be happy to oblige but we have many boys here." Obseki replies sarcastically. Xayide blinks twice, not amused with the Woodlanders' attitudes. "This one's name is Atreyu." Obseki sighs. "He has been gone for many days." Xayide smirks. "Well, someone must know where he is." She says, looking around at the crowd of woodlanders. "Every boy has a parent, who is his mother?" She asks.
The wise woman stepped up, along with the rest of the woodlanders. This amused Xayide more once she realized that all of them knew where he was. "Atreyu is the son of all." The woman says confidently. Xayide laughs. "Oh, I see. Well then, you shall all meet to the same fate." She asserts, as the guards start to bring out a heavy steel container and places it in front of the group. Xayide had an ominous look in her eyes. "Line them up." She commands as the guards start motion the woodlanders to get in a single file line.
Meanwhile, Atreyu and Tartus are still walking, Artax still behind. "Atreyu look at this." Tartus says as he points to the doll on the ground. Atreyu goes to grab it, but soon enough the knights are marching by again, they hide quickly and wait for them to pass before they approach close to the village. "Tartus, I've got to sneak into our village and see what's going on." Atreyu says. "What about me? I'll come with you." Tartus insists. "No, someone's gotta stay with Artax."
"So what am I now, your groom?" Tartus asks sarcastically. "No look, if something should happen to me, you must continue my quest." Atreyu insists as he takes off his cloak and hands it to Tartus. Tartus nods and takes it.
•••
The students in Bastian's class are working like normal, until Mr. Blank starts writing the a word on the board with chalk. "The word of the day is Indolence." He snarls. "Does anybody know what that means?" He asks in a way of mocking the class. The bell then rings and everyone starts to pack up. "Not so fast lady's and gentlemen everybody freeze." He commands. "I want you to read the next 2…no make it 3 chapters and don't forget to do the review at the end of each. Assignment due tomorrow." He says
"Hey that's not fair!" Fallon complains as Marley raises her hand. "Excuse me Mr. Blank, but Mrs. Finnegen never gave us more than one chapter to read." She informs. Mr. Blank's eyes filled once more with a more terrorizing look as he takes a step closer. "Do. I. Look. Like. Mrs. Finnegen?" He says in an ominous tone. Marley shakes her head nervously and looks down. "I. Didn't. Think. So." Mr. Blank says in the same tone.
"And if anyone knows the whereabouts of Mr. Bux, they will be please be so kind as to inform him of his academic obligations." He commands as a couple kids nod. "Good, you can leave now." He says before turning back to his desk. Marley and Lucas walk out together. Lucas rolls his eyes. "He's really getting scary, good thing Bastian wasn't here, he would have hated today." Marley scoffs. "Well now his grade is gunna drop for missing more stuff, not a good thing."
"Well whatever, he'll probably catch up later anyway. I'll call him I get home." Lucas says before the two split up to their lockers. Meanwhile Bastian was still in the school's attic reading. 'As he saw the dark knights at work, he now understood how Xayide used 'the nothing' to dronify Fantasians,' he reads. Atreyu watches from afar in between some rocks as he watches what goes on.
"Woodlanders~ Prepare to meet your fate." Xayide calls out with her hands open at her as she walks around the village. She turns to the knight behind her. "Bring them to me one by one." She commands as she heads into a tent. Atreyu was crouching around behind trees and bushes, he watched as Obseki was being taken to the tent. Atreyu moved closer by the animal skins, before running behind a blue tent.
He watched as the knight pulled Obseki in the tent, and once he came out, he came out full of grey in his clothing that replaced the color, along with his hair. Atreyu, who is oblivious to what happened crouches closer to him. "Obseki what's going on?" He asks. Obseki turns around, his expression was furrowed and he had huge bags under his eyes. "What happened to you?" Atreyu asks. Obseki doesn't answer, he just turns around before being pushed forward by a knight.
Soon enough the Wise Woman is up next in the line of woodlanders. "This is an outrage!" The Woodlanders are a free people under the protection of the Childlike Empress!" She defends. She was so far the only woodlander to defend them. "You have a choice. You can either give up on protecting the boy or you can meet the same fate as the other 'brave woodlanders'." She offers. "I will never betray Atreyu!" The woman asserts.
Xayide scoffs and laughs as she gestures towards the steel container, which a couple of knights open. A gas like substance trails out, as one knight picks up a smaller container inside it and sets it down. Xayide lifts up the lid, revealing a black mixted with dark green gas that slithers out and towards the woman. The other Woodlanders watch in fear as the substance whirls around the woman, she herself also whimpering in fear due to the electric shock it was giving her.
Once the substance is finished, she is completely covered in grey, just like Obseki. The Woman stares blankly at the Dark Princess as she stands up and walks towards her. "You were saying?" Xayide asks. The woman does nothing but stare at her, the substance draining her ability to think, to talk, and overall her full awareness. Xayide chuckles. "That's what I like to hear." She states as she starts to walk away. "Well, what are you waiting for? We have to do." She Informs as she sits back down, calling for the next woodlander to come up.